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You've progressed a long way down the road to law school.
You've learned how to gain admission to a program that fits your
needs. You've explored how to find the money to pay for your
legal education. But you may still have many questions. What's
law school really like? Will my investment be worth it? Of
course, your own answers to these questions lie in the future. In
the meantime, however, you can read all about it and talk to
people who have been there, done that.
Wake-up Call
The first year of law school is not for fair-weather enthusiasts.
There will be plenty of opportunities for you to feel overwhelmed
and thoroughly drenched in self-doubt. With an increasingly
competitive job market, even 1Ls (first-year law students) aren't
immune to the pressure of the placement process. And at many
schools there is often the "case method" of teaching that could
be another strain. In case method classes, the professor's role
is to provoke students into a higher level of thinking. You will
certainly be challenged on a number of levels.
Nontraditional First-Year
Curriculum
A few schools offer a different kind of curriculum to students.
For example, Georgetown Law Center offers a program called
Curriculum B, emphasizing the source of law in history,
philosophy, political theory, and economics. Other schools with
curriculums that offer an "atypical" first-year approach include:
University of Montana, William and Mary, and the Chicago-Kent
College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT),
among others. Each school's offerings are unique. For example,
the University of Montana and William and Mary organize their
first-year students into law firms where students tackle
lawyering problems in a simulated format. Chicago-Kent focuses on
cultivating legal writing skills, drawing extensively on the use
of computers in this effort. These are just a few examples. Many
other schools offer special programs. Contact the schools for
details on their offerings.
Second- and Third-Year
Curriculum
Your second and third years in law school usually offer greater
flexibility in course choice, often in more specialized areas of
the law, and sometimes with a clinical component. Different law
schools offer different special programs and specific
requirements for graduation, but the J.D. degree is generalist in
nature, and prepares you to solve current legal problems and
anticipate the problems of the future.
More Information
Learn more about law school admissions at
www.kaptest.com/law.
Learn about Kaplan's LSAT programs at www.kaptest.com/lsat.
Enroll in a Kaplan course at www.kaptest.com/enroll.
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